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Last year the Kansas City Chiefs defense started out the season even worse than they did this year, giving up 89 points in two games compared to only (only?) 75 points this year. The good news is that the defense rebounded last year and finished 12th overall.
And that's a major key to remember -- they came back and played significantly better down the stretch last year. In fact, take the Romeo Crennel era, the last two years, and the Chiefs are the 12th and 11th ranked defenses. To me, those 32 games are more reflective of Crennel's work with the defense than these last two games, especially considering we went through the same thing last year.
Of course, the thing that has changed is that Crennel is now pulling double-duty, which has to make a difference. Working both roles necessarily means that you can't give either role as much attention as others in the league do. You won't be acting as a head coach as often as others because you have defensive coordinator duties. And you can't do the normal duties of a defensive coordinator, especially on game day, because you're now the head coach.
Logically speaking that could be an issue.
Those are reasons (or theories) why the Chiefs defense has been struggling.
But what's the New Orleans Saints excuse? They've been as bad as the Chiefs, ranking last in the league right next to KC with 75 points given up in two games.
According to our Saints blog, Canal Street Chronicles, the Saints will get better defensively.
That it isn't as bad as it looks. We haven't looked well in the two games played, but I think that has a lot to do with the defense learning the new scheme and the absence of some of our starters.
The Saints are a pressure defense which is not good news for the Chiefs. Matt Cassel is very poor against pressure so the Chiefs offensive line creating room for him becomes extremely important this week. If they can do that, there will be opportunities to exploit them.